Monthly Archives: February 2014

Today marks the start of the EFAReport’s 10-week campaign that has been dubbed ‘Teacher Tuesday’. Every Tuesday for the next 10 weeks, a teacher from a different part of the World will be discussing the issues that they face and what they feel needs to be done to improve education globally.

This week, it was Esnart Chapomba from Malawi‘s turn. Malawi has had a free education policy since 1994 and is currently working toward ensuring there are no more than 60 children per class around the country. Esnart discussed what affects him as an educator, including certain problems you may not have known about or expected.

The poorest being hardest hit – As is the general trend with global education, Esnart points out that it is children in the most rural and disadvantaged communities who are suffering the most. Esnart describes the difficulties of trying to teach a class of 230 pupils and how it simply isn’t manageable or feasible for one person. However, it isn’t just children who are suffering because of teacher shortages but also teachers themselves. Teachers are disenchanted and demotivated because of the circumstances they face, however the Malawian Government is trying to combat this by providing a stimulus for teachers in rural communities to better their lives.

Structures & Resources – Even items as basic as pencils and paper are scarce for Esnart and his colleagues, with up to 10 children sharing one textbook. Also, there are no classrooms big enough to accommodate due to the sheer size of classes which leads to lessons being taught outside which, because of the lack of structure, leads to a distracting teaching and learning environment.

Lack of Quality – This quote is taken directly from Esnart’s speech:

“You will be shocked to hear that some children in Malawi reach grades three and four without being able to add up, read or write. I’ve even seen children as old as 9 and 10 who are unable to read and write their names when clearly they should be able to do this. These children will miss out on good opportunities and will be without the skills they need to have a decent future.”

This only adds impetus to the need for not simply education but quality education which increases life chances and opens doors that otherwise remain firmly closed.

Dropout Rates – Possibly due to the demotivating effects of poor learning environments/lack of quality education, a significant number of pupils will drop out before completing primary level education. The dropout rate is also higher among girls (4% higher, to be exact) which unfortunately is prevalent throughout the developing world. Pupils deserve more conducive learning environments and egalitarian social structures.

All of the issues that Esnart brought up in his speech and more must be addressed if we are to see a truly fair, effective global education agenda in post-2015. This final quote from Esnart perfectly encapsulates the power education wields and the impact it can have in developing countries.

“An education must prepare our children to be productive citizens of our country so that we can lift ourselves out of the vicious cycle of poverty and have a better future.”

“If global leaders invested more in education they could help reduce poverty, create more sustainable livelihoods, improve long-term health benefits, ensure greater gender equality, and promote democratic governance: investment in education now can help to fund a better future tomorrow.”

Despite the evidence, there are still 57 million children out of primary education globally and a further 69 million out of secondary education. This is a serious issue but equal gravitas must be given to the fact that there are enormous financing gaps for global education, to the tune of $4billion.

Demand from developing countries is vastly outstripping supply from the GCE, this is due, in part, to the fact that member countries of the GPE are not pledging significant donations to global education; for example, the Netherlands has pulled their funding completely. This has provoked the GPE to hold a ‘funding replenishment’ on June 26th 2014 in Brussels. The intention is that cumulatively, the GPE will contribute $1billion p.a. from 2015-2018, providing a total of $4billion for global education. The GPE has claimed that assuming the predicted level of replenishment is achieved, an ‘ambitious’ target of 92% enrolment in primary education can be reached, meaning an extra 17 million children enrolled in basic, primary education.

However, the weight is not solely on the shoulders of the GPE, there is also the call for developing countries to dedicate more of their budget to education, 20% to be precise, with at least 10% on primary education or a higher figure where necessary. This is a crucial development which will see developing countries engaging with their educational issues and creating change in a way that foreign aid could never achieve. Since the MDG’s were created, there has been increased average spending of 6% on education across all Sub-Saharan countries so we can see developing countries are heading in the right direction.

Lastly, there is a hope that the private sector will show greater dedication to the issue of global education. One suggestion has been that multinationals pay their ‘fair share’ of tax in developing countries where they operate. Making multinationals more accountable through taxation will produce steadier, more regular income within developing countries, again producing change and internal development that international aid cannot achieve.

These are all logical and necessary steps toward funding global education, the GPE replenishment meeting in Brussels on June 26th will set the precedent for global education funding post-2015.